Monday, June 10, 2013

Hex build

1 June 2013
hex build final preparations.
.. chocs cut as the sun set. solar radio power failing...

almost everyone arrived Friday night, getting stuck into the local cider, but not too much as we had a big day of building ahead.

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next morning after a simple ceremony & project intro from razi we began enthusiastically... the first step was to bring over the 36 osb boards, and i was glad we were a team of 7 doing this rather than me on my own.

. the roof pieces we laid out in pairs to form overlapping triangles with a base size slightly longer than the wall sections then screwed together with a supporting batten.

next the first set of 6 walls were erected, with the 120 degree precut chocs holding all the angles tightly.

some ancillary leaning was required to test the joins !

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here is the roof half complete, held up with a stick being screwed together from above with a guide looking up from below

to finish the roof, someone had to cower inside, avoiding the very sharp screws whilst pushing the edges together & trying to avoid the screws being drilled in from outside, it was dark and i was never sure where the screw was coming through and if it would drill straight into my foot, happy days!! luckily with good instructions and some ex-military precision safety prevailed !

(should have bought shorter screws !!!)

the roof joints which were overlapped during construction to avoid water penetration were then sealed with silicon using a 3 man reaching technique..

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we worked so well that the first hex was finished by lunchtime, way ahead of my expectations.

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after lunch we split into 2 groups and the walls of the second hex went up in seconds

note the blue damp proof course on the floor,

whilst the second group started on the roof.

we finished the structure well before sunset, i am not sure when maybe 7.30?? and mark & chrs had made 2 epic veggie stews for the hungry gang.

a wonderful evening of talk around the fire saw another 15 litres of cider disappear .. and not a cross word despite the mix of anarchists, hippies and capitalists !